the mommy avenger

If you’ve been around here for a while, you already know my family has a serious soft spot for Monster Jam. We’re the ones at the Delta Center every January, arguing in the stands about who’s taking the freestyle round, picking out way too much souvenir gear, and walking out already talking about next year. So when I tell you I am genuinely losing it over this next piece of news, I need you to understand I do not say that lightly.

Monster Jam World Finals XXV is coming to Salt Lake City. Not a regular tour stop. Not the usual eight-truck arena show we get every winter. This is the World Finals — the one event on the entire Monster Jam calendar where the very best trucks and drivers on the planet show up to fight for an actual World Championship. And it’s happening right here, at the University of Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium, July 2-4, 2026, brought to us by the Utah Sports Commission.

This is the marquee event of the year, and it’s landing in our backyard over the 4th of July weekend. Mark the calendar and do whatever you need to do.

So What Makes World Finals Different?

This year’s event features 28 competing trucks — way more than your standard Monster Jam stop — and fans are flying in from literally all over the world to watch. There isn’t just one championship up for grabs, either. Drivers will be battling it out across four separate titles: JCB Racing, BKT Freestyle, Lucas Oil High Jump, and the Utah Sports Commission 2 Wheel Skills competition. Four crowns, one weekend, and an entire stadium full of people losing their minds over every single one.

A Track Built Just for Rice-Eccles

Here’s the detail that has me the most excited as someone who has watched a lot of Monster Jam: the track for World Finals isn’t a standard layout. It’s custom-designed specifically for Rice-Eccles Stadium, and the racing format alone sounds like an engineering marvel. This year’s JCB Racing track sends trucks through two jumps per lane along the bowl turns to kick off the race, then sends them climbing up into the stands. Then comes a hard turn, back up into the stands a second time, and a big-air finish straight across the line. I have watched a lot of monster truck racing in my life and that is not a layout you see every season.

Two Nights, Two Secrets

This is the part Monster Jam is being tight-lipped about, and honestly, I respect the drama. Both Friday and Saturday night will feature an exclusive, gravity-defying stunt that is being kept completely under wraps — each one tied to the reveal of a brand-new truck. We don’t get details yet, but “shrouded in secrecy” is exactly the kind of phrase that makes me want to be in that stadium in person rather than finding out about it the next day online.

Friday, July 3: Let the Racing Begin

Friday’s Pit Party opens at 11 a.m. and runs until 5 p.m. — included with your Friday ticket — so you’ve got the whole afternoon to wander the trucks, meet drivers, and let the kids climb on things they are absolutely not allowed to climb on at home. The competition kicks off at 6:30 p.m. with a 14-truck JCB Racing bracket, and the winner punches their ticket straight into Saturday’s Racing Championship. Halftime brings a Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony honoring driver Lupe Soza, and then it’s straight into a 14-truck BKT Freestyle competition — a completely different lineup of trucks than the ones racing earlier, so you’re really getting two shows for the price of one. And just when you think the night is winding down, World Finals Night 1 unleashes its first secret stunt.

Saturday, July 4: Champions Crowned, Fireworks Overhead

Saturday follows the same format — Pit Party from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., event kickoff at 6:30 p.m. — but this is the night it all gets decided. The JCB Racing Championship pits Friday’s winner against Saturday’s winner for the title, and the BKT Freestyle Championship comes down to whoever posted the highest score across both nights. Halftime honors driver Tom Meents with his own Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, and then we get World Finals Night 2’s secret stunt before the night closes out with an honest-to-goodness 4th of July fireworks spectacular. Racing, freestyle, monster trucks, and fireworks on America’s birthday — I don’t know how you top that as a family outing.

Driving for a Good Cause

One more thing I love about this event: Monster Jam has long supported St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and there will be St. Jude fundraising initiatives specific to World Finals announced soon. Every dollar raised goes directly to St. Jude’s mission of finding cures and saving kids’ lives. So beyond the noise and the dirt and the big air, you’re also cheering for something that genuinely matters.

The Details

What: Monster Jam World Finals XXV When: July 2-4, 2026 (Friday and Saturday are the main event nights, both with 6:30 p.m. start times and Pit Party access from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.) Where: Rice-Eccles Stadium, 451 S. 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 Tickets: On sale now through Ticketmaster.com — and as always with stadium events like this, grab them early, because a World Finals doesn’t come around to Utah often.

I’ll be there cheering with the rest of you, and I have a feeling this is going to be the Monster Jam event our family talks about for years. Get your tickets, plan your Pit Party strategy, and get ready to spend the 4th of July watching 12,000-pound trucks fly through the air over Rice-Eccles Stadium. See you in the stands!